October 22, 2011

I’ve been accumulating news snippets about the as-yet-to-be-formally-scheduled release of Guild Wars 2 for an email newsletter I send out to my friends and acquaintances in the Guild Wars community. I think this has been the slowest week for GW2 news since I started doing the weekly round-up earlier this year. Hopefully this is just a temporary slowdown.

Part 2: Guild Wars news

Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news

Flameseeker Chronicles: A closer look at the Grawl of Guild Wars 2. “I was pretty excited to see this week’s addition to the ArenaNet blog for a couple of reasons reasons. First, I’m a big fan of Jeff Grubb’s style of storytelling. It’s clear, informative, and entertaining, with just enough of Jeff’s wry sense of humor to surprise a laugh out of me now and again.”

Guardians of Tyria: Guardian lore and background part 1 of 5: Humans. “Ever since the guardian was announced, I was interested in its background and lore. This is a melee combatant that employs magic and tactical combat in order to gain the advantage on its enemies. The guardian is also an amazing defender, using heavy armor and magical barriers to protect himself and his allies. He can also turn the tide of battle by empowering his allies, using amazing support skills. All of this makes it possible to compare the guardian with the cleric or paladin archetype from other universes within the fantasy genre, but one of the main differences lies in their lore; what I like about the guardian is that he doesn’t rely on a local deity to grant him his magical powers. In Guild Wars 2, the guardian is not considered a deity’s champion, nor does he need any religious background whatsoever unless you want your guardian to have it. In an interview with TowerTalk, Ree Soesbee, lore & continuity designer at ArenaNet, mentioned that guardians have access to their power by a having a powerful belief in someone or something. We were also given an introduction by Arenanet’s lore master, Jeff Grubb.”

Video: Audio Team Field Recording Trip. “Hello, my name is James Ackley and I’m the Audio Director here at ArenaNet. I thought I’d share with you a fun field trip the ArenaNet audio department took recently to the inactive Satsop Nuclear Power Plant to record audio for Guild Wars 2.”